The past few years of the pandemic have taught us so many lessons, among them how deeply interconnected we are and how we depend on cooperation with one another in a crisis. While COVID continues to present a serious health risk, particularly to medically vulnerable and unvaccinated individuals, we also have more tools available to us now to prevent widespread outbreaks, serious illness, and death, including:
- Vaccination
- Home testing and lab testing
- Masks
- Improved ventilation
- Isolating when sick
- Data-based assessments of community risk levels
As of January 17, 2023, GilChrist no longer has any specific COVID-related restrictions for individuals and groups. However, we maintain a number of good-faith practices together:
- Group facilitators must identify shared practices that reflect the needs and culture of their particular group, as well as the current risk level of the geographic region participants are coming from. The selected practices should be communicated in a clear and timely manner (at least two weeks before the start of the retreat) to both retreat participants and GilChrist staff.
- Individual guests should consult with others in shared spaces about comfort level with or without masks. Requests to wear masks must be respected.
- GilChrist staff members are all vaccinated, and will design our own safety practices in conjunction with individual guests, group guidelines, and the requirements of our employer. In order to mitigate a number of viruses, we continue to maintain a 24-hour gap between guests in the cabins for cleaning and airing out.
Whether you come to GilChrist as an individual guest or as part of a group: thank you for being a partner in fostering the transparency and mutuality this crisis has shown to be part of the essential work of all compassionate, contemplative communities.